Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Yucaipa, California 92399
Monday, February 28, 2005 19:05 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane impacted mountainous terrain in a box canyon during a local area instructional night flight approximately 1 hour after nautical twilight ended. The operator reported that the purpose of the flight was for the private pilot, who obtained his certificate 1 month ago, to obtain night Visual Flight Rules (VFR) experience with an instructor on board. The flight was scheduled to fly in the local area and to make night landings at several local airports. Friends of the pilot reported they heard the airplane fly over the private pilot's residence about 1900. The witness said he could see the strobe lights of the airplane, but could not see the airplane registration number due to the low clouds that were in the area. The wreckage site was on a slope in a box canyon, about 100 feet below the ridgeline top, at an elevation of 4,168 feet mean sea level. The private pilot had a total logged flight time of 95 hours, with 3.5 hours of dual instruction received during night conditions. The certified flight instructor had a total logged flight time of 435 hours, with 22 flight hours logged during night conditions. He logged 23 hours in the local area, 2.8 of which were under night conditions. No mechanical abnormalities were found with the airplane or engine during the investigation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the private pilot and the flight instructor to maintain adequate terrain clearance while flying in unfamiliar mountainous terrain in dark night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/28/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1905 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Yucaipa |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92399 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340215N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1165915W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1855 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 230 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RIV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1535 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.1 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20965 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 1 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1200 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP- FSDO- Riverside, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2954P |
| NTSB Number | LAX05FA106 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7990587 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2558 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 61.8 |
| Airframe Hours | 10858.2 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | M.I. Air Corporation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1745 Sessums Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Redlands |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92374 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | L12 |
| Departure City | Redlands |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1846 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2006 6:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |